High voltage isolation in medical devices is important for patient and user safety. In particular, in medical devices which utilize high voltages, such as a defibrillator, ablation catheter, etc., isolation is needed between any portion of the device that comes into contact with a patient and any high voltage, such as a power source or computer system. In order for a medical device to be properly isolated, there can be no direct electrical connection between the portion of the device that comes into contact with a patient and the high voltage. A portion of a medical device that is required to be isolated from a mains voltage is referred to herein as an “isolated portion” and a portion of a medical device including a mains voltage is referred to herein as a “non-isolated portion”. Regulations, such as IEC-60601, specify standards of isolation necessary in medical devices.
Conventionally, medical devices separately isolate power transmission and data transmission. For example, for power transmission between the non-isolated and isolated portions of a medical device, a transformer is typically used, and for data/signal transmission between the non-isolated and isolated portions, a separate electrical circuit, such as an optical diode, fiber, etc., is typically used. However, there are several shortcomings with the conventional isolation and signal transmission strategies. For example, different isolation and signal transmission strategies in a medical device can lead to complex hardware with many components and different levels of isolation distributed to different parts of the device. Accordingly, with a greater number of components, there may be a greater risk for current leakage for each component and between components, which causes safety risks. Also, the need for different types of system components for different isolation and signal transmission strategies may lead to a low function to cost ratio, increasing the cost of medical devices. In addition, the need for a greater number of electrical circuits and components can lead to increased noise and electrical artifacts in the signal transmission. Furthermore, conventional methods typically transmit isolated digital signals which have been converted using analog to digital conversion, leading to an increased risk for high voltage shock to hardware components of a medical device. This can shorten the life span of components of the medical device.